Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee

City of Mountain View Minutes Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee Wednesday, April 28, 2021 6:30 PM Video Conference with No Physical Meeting Location This meeting was conducted in accordance with State of California Executive Order N-29-20, dated March 17, 2020. All members of the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee participated in the meeting by video conference, with no physical meeting location. 1. CALL TO ORDER Lada Adamic called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Staff members present: Transportation Planner Aruna Bodduna, Transportation Manager Ria Hutabarat Lo, Assistant Public Works Director Damian Skinner, Economic Development Specialist Tiffany Chew. 4 members of the public were present. Present 5 - Committee Member Terry Barton, Committee Member James Kuszmaul, Committee Member Kalyanaraman Shankari, Vice Chair Valerie Fenwick, and Chair Lada Adamic 3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC None. 4. MINUTES APPROVAL 4.1 Minutes Approval Approve minutes of the B/PAC meeting on March 31, 2021. Yes: 5- Committee Member Barton, Committee Member Kuszmaul, Committee Member Shankari, Vice Chair Fenwick, and Chair Adamic 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None 6. NEW BUSINESS 6.1 Castro Street Bikeway Feasibility Study Aruna Bodduna presented information on the Castro Street Bikeway Feasibility Study. No public comment. City of Mountain View Page 1 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes April 28, 2021 Committee Committee comments: Shankari provided proofreading corrections and requested comparable count data between pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles in the main document. She also reiterated a preference for a pedestrian scramble over protected left turn at Castro/Church, and she noted the report's apparent preference for vehicle operations over active transportation access since affected intersections operate at Automobile LOS A and C, which is well above thresholds of D and E, while bicyclists remain unserved. Valerie Fenwick strongly opposed sharrows because they are not respected by motorists. She also requested clarification and visuals on how prior comments by B/PAC and DTC were addressed in the design. She noted that the August minutes in the agenda packet on the City webpage have not been updated to match the final minutes. Terry Barton reiterated the goal of encouraging walking and biking, and expressed a preference for considering a scramble phase or no left turn at Castro/Church to eliminate vehicle-pedestrian conflicts while still facilitating bike lanes (instead of a protected left turn lane that precludes bike lanes). He also favored narrower 10-foot lanes and bike boxes at signalized intersections where bikes may need to go straight or turn left. James Kuzsmaul supported a pedestrian refuge at Yosemite/High School Way as well as protected bikeway treatments between Yosemite and El Camino to tie into a future protected intersection at El Camino. He also suggested features (like flex posts) to prevent loading in bike lanes and consideration of parallel instead of angled parking. Lada Adamic supported features that make Yosemite adequate for younger cyclists such as pedestrian refuges. B/PAC members expressed opposition to sharrows, and commented on the existing Castro StrEATS program. Members noted community support for making the open street layout permanent for some segments. MOTION Staff should make a second editorial pass and the report should represent changes made to the plan as a result of B/PAC and DTC feedback. Fenwick/Shankari – 5/0/0 – passed MOTION: Support Alternative 1 (bike lanes) instead of Alternative 3 (hybrid), and address concerns at Castro/Church by considering options such as a pedestrian scramble phase to address pedestrian conflicts, or eliminating vehicle left turns movements (to provide space for bike lanes). Shankari/Kuszmaul – 5/0/0 - passed. MOTION: Evaluate removal of angled parking or conversion to parallel parking in order to provide space for bike lanes and reduce conflicts between bicycles and parking vehicles. Kuszmaul/Fenwick – 5/0/0 - passed. Yes: 5- Committee Member Barton, Committee Member Kuszmaul, Committee Member Shankari, Vice Chair Fenwick, and Chair Adamic 6.2 Personal Delivery Device Pilot Program Tiffany Chew provided an update on the Personal Delivery Device pilot program. She indicated that Starship is partnering with 15 downtown businesses and has gone from 10 deliveries per day during Q3 2020 to 15 per day in Q1 2021. She also reported an incident City of Mountain View Page 2 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes April 28, 2021 Committee when a person stumbled and fell in front of the robot. Public comment: Bruce England commented that the PDD program is not following the guidelines provided in B/PAC recommendations or Council approval for the program. He is not in favor of sidewalks being used by non-pedestrians, and he noted that the PDDs do not seem to yield, but instead stop and block the sidewalk. Committee comments James Kuszmaul, Lada Adamic and Valerie Fenwick expressed wariness about giving up limited sidewalk space, particularly on Castro Street, for PDDs. James Kuszmaul suggested that the City consider allowing PDDs to operate in the roadway instead of sidewalks; and Lada Adamic suggested that they use back entrances. Valerie Fenwick expressed interest in a citywide survey on PDDs. She also requested more information on the falling incident and supported a different incident response process to ensure that the City sees all issues. She would also like to see signage on the devices to indicate that they are supposed to yield and a phone number for reporting issues. Terry Barton appreciated the City’s efforts to innovate, and noted that he did not think the PDDs learn (AI) but are remotely controlled. He expressed interest in seeing heat maps of routes and understanding lessons from the pilot. Several B/PAC members commented that the PDDs tend to stop rather than yielding and get out of the way of pedestrians. 6.3 B/PAC Fiscal Year 2020-21 Work Plan Ria Hutabarat Lo shared information on the Work Plan and draft agenda for the joint meeting with the Palo Alto PABAC to be held on June 30, 2021. Shankari and Terry Barton suggested that the City consider how to conduct hybrid meetings after the state of emergency to facilitate broader community participation. For the joint meeting, Lada Adamic suggested delaying our minutes approval. She also requested discussion of the question: What is something that each advisory body did in the last five years that we could learn from? B/PAC members generally supported consideration of the following three items at the joint meeting: 1) Park/Wilkie/Miller Bikeway; 2) Bay Trail; and 3) El Camino Real Bikeway. Other suggestions were San Antonio station access, Middlefield bikeway, and San Antonio corridor. 6.4 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency (VTA) Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Update Lada Adamic shared about new member training for the VTA BPAC where it was noted that City funding is linked to having a B/PAC. VTA BPAC did not meet in April 2021. 7. COMMITTEE/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS, UPDATES, REQUESTS 7.1. Staff Comments Aruna Bodduna provided information on AskMV tickets. She also highlighted the Council items on Castro StrEATS extension (4/13), and the Council Transportation Committee meeting on Grant/Sleeper intersection and AccessMV. She also mentioned the community meeting for Calderon bike project (4/29), and reminded people of Bike Month events including the Council proclamation (5/11) and Bike to Wherever Day (5/21). City of Mountain View Page 3 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes April 28, 2021 Committee Public comment Holger Isenberg questioned the focus on El Camino Real and noted a concern about crossing Shoreline Boulevard at the Stierlin Road slip lane. Bruce England also commented that he had not previously heard about the Calderon community meeting or discussion on equity concerns related to AskMV near miss data. Committee comments James Kuszmaul noted that AB 1238 related to jaywalking is also under consideration. 7.2. Committee Comments Valerie Fenwick requested further discussion of near miss data and updating of near miss data that appeared to be erroneous on the webpage. She requested near miss data to help understand pedestrian perspectives and repeated issues or patterns, and she requested that AskMV near miss items be routed to Public Works in addition to Police. James Kuszmaul requested an informational item on the repaving program to understand how to leverage repaving to deliver bike and pedestrian projects more cheaply and quickly. 8. SET DATE AND TIME FOR NEXT MEETING Special meeting on May 26, 2021 9. CALENDAR 10. ADJOURNMENT Lada Adamic adjourned the meeting at 9:10 p.m. City of Mountain View Page 4